Fritz1

spraying with penetrating oil might help to shake it loose

I like Arlins in Bozeman, we have been spending summer and winter vacations in MT for many years, Arlins has always been very responsive and proven competent

ok, sold on the GeeBee seals, I have a 3'x3' sheet of the original black fabric based seal material and have made some replacement pieces but the silicone material is probably more pliable and I have a bunch of tired pieces in there

I am the 3rd owner of the aircraft, 2nd owner put in factory reman engine at 1100h, current engine is 12 years old and has 750h now and appears to be running fine, fly 120-150h per year, leak test mid 70s, run 2300/30", 115dF rich, max TIT 1600, max CHT400, hottest EGT 1500, change oil every 25h, ShellW100Plus, preheat below 50F, only unscheduled maintenance so far is TIT probe two years ago and waste gate control actuator right now which started leaking from the shaft seal a couple of weeks ago, replacement should show up on Monday, check exhaust valves with bore scope every oil change, plan wobble test on valves at next annual, cautiously optimistic that engine will make TBO, maybe will need a cylinder or two overhauled in between, really curious what the service record of other Bravo engines looks like

as everybody said closing gaps where air blows through makes a big difference, a couple of pieces of new baffle material, a couple of pop rives and some RTV go very far, RTV closes the smallest gaps where air blows through, switch the CHT thermocouples between cylinders, clean the connectors, maybe things are not as hot as they appear

saw a 231 in weep no more shop in spring of 2019 that had US registration taped over German registration, Paul Beck explained to me that the German owner had flown it back and forth across the Atlantic several times and that it had dual registration, flies on US registration in the US and on German registration in Europe, maybe the owner did the US registration and never cancelled the German registration, the legality of this setup is beyond my pay grade, these birds are migratory and pilots are creative by nature

Yes Oasis in Wilmar, they run a competent MSC, they are affiliated with Weep no more who resealed my tanks 4 years ago, good people.

my timer box failed two years ago, tried to buy the power transistor and eventually bought a used box from salvage, switch in luggage compartment can get sticky, $8 item, everything works fine now and really helps loading and unloading luggage when dark, however malfunction will kill expensive battery, when in doubt take bulb out until system is fixed

I saw an aircraft at weep no more 4 years ago that had dual German and US registration, I am sure Paul Beck remembers the guy who can explain how this works. Flying a European technician over for a Florida vacation and "pre-qualifying" the aircraft with a US annual may be the path of least resistance.

quite normal for system that has not bee used in a while, put TKS fluid into small container and massage it into dead spots of panel with sponge, run system for a couple of minutes, do more sponging, eventually all the the panels will start flowing again, thereafter run once a month dispensing about 1 gal, properly primed system will dribble on hangar floor when pressure drops, once it stops dribbling time to re-prime, best time to re-prime is when it is cold outside, I rather re-prime on the ground, much less mess on the airframe and less re-lubing of controls, TKS fluid washes lube out of rod ends, good idea to wash airplane thoroughly after icing season, take off belly pan, clean inside, lube rod ends, lube rod ends in flight control system and landing gear, lube trim jackscrew in tail. The system really works, most important lesson for me in 6 years of use, call ahead and make sure fluid is available, when in doubt put 2.5 gal jug in trunk

all good calls, if motor is not rebuildable I think there is an upgrade kit to a later model actuator, I put this kit in my 68Gmodel in 98, current 201 part at the time with t-handle instead crank, call the following Paul Loewen Mooney Salvage C&W in Caldwell Weber in PA Brian Kendrick in TX Cole in Georgia Airmods in Robbinsville NJ Lasar Google the part # First of all you need somebody on the job that wants to fox this problem, if you need to go to Lasar, fly there with gear down

put pressure bleeder on reservoir, need about 10 psi, trace supply line from reservoir to master for drips, when bleeding left brake pump left pilot and left copilot pedal simultaneously, hang caliper upside down with safety wire so that bleed valve is up, use old brake pads or any piece of material that has thickness of brake disc as spacer, air bubbles can be pushed aside when pilot and copilot pedals are not pushed simultaneously, air bubbles hide in top of caliper if not flipped upside down when bleeding, run liberal amount of fluid, familiarize yourself with the location of the bleed opening behind each caliper piston, this will allow you to hang the calipers perfectly while bleeding, I think we used over one qt after resealing both calipers, persistence pays off!

I put Lasar wing root fairings on my G-model way back when, hard to tell what they really did, I think they reduced stall speed, maybe gained .5 kt in cruise, these do not look like they were made by Lasar, maybe molded off Lasar part, you could install them as owner provided part or buy a set with the STC from Lasar, overall they can't hurt, weight probably 1 lb combined, think they even look good, best done before you paint the airplane

changing the preload also changes the retract position of that leg, which may require re-rigging the other mlg and the nose gear, several iterations may be required to get everything just right, there is more to this than meets the eye, smartest thing to do is to work with somebody who has done this before, next time around you will know how to do it and that person who has done it before just needs to check your work

saw about the same after resealing both calipers in December, had to go to about 20 psi on bleeder to get things moving, most important lesson learnt: had to take calipers off again, flip upside down so bleed valve is up to get the last air bubble out from behind the pistons, we were scratching our heads, Brian Kendrick came up with the solution

try pressure bleeder on reservoir, may take 1-2 qts to purge everything, may need to take brake calipers off and turn upside down while bleeding to get all air out from behind the pistons, turning calipers brings bleed valve up, when pumping brake pedals pump pilot left and copilot lets at the same time to bleed the left brake

same here, somebody had cross threaded my cap, replaced the whole assembly 3 years ago, smooth ever since

put buds on cannula outlet like you put on earphone, seals in nose like it seals in ear, you can breathe out through nose but almost seals tight when breathing in, more comfortable than cannula end which can be sharp and get aggravating after a couple of hours, I think mine came with a Samsung phone, generic item, soft rubber, have mask but these appear to be just fine

I put earphone buds on my precise flight boom cannulas, improves oxygenation, use precise flight pulse breathers in my Bravo, cuts consumption by maybe 2/3, keep full size tank in my hangar, typically swap 2x per year, typically when pressure drops below 1000 psi, refill portable tanks of my friends for free, the only bummer with the tank is letting it go half full, there are electric oxygen boost pumps but to my best understanding they are about $4k new, if I ever see a used one I will buy it, having the tank in the hangar is worth it to me after FBO banged up my oxygen door once upon a time

Weep no more did my tanks 4 years ago, they are affiliated with Oasis, both are solid outfits in my humble opinion

I took the rear seats out of my FIKI Bravo, gives you almost 30lb UL, in summer I love the b-cool ice box, excellent cooling for $300, wired fused plug to #1 battery in baggage compartment, pre-cool in hangar when on battery minder with both batteries charging in parallel, get into cool airplane, start on #2 battery, cools during engine startup and taxi, runs about 1.5h with 15lb of ice, plenty for taxi, climb out and landing, ice box stays at home in winter when TKS tank is kept full

there are 13 Bravos on the Controller, good spread, this number is as high as I have seen it in 5 years, prices appear to be softening a tad after year end rush

I have bought two Mooneys, no written agreement before the sale was executed, verbal non binding offer, key to success in my humble opinion is to bring your own technician along who really knows Mooneys, conduct a thorough inspection that exceeds a regular annual, pay the technician for the inspection, then negotiate the sale, buy the airplane or not, if bought technician fixes detected deficiencies and signs annual, all this is done after a thorough logbook analysis, the only thing that the buyer and the seller agree upon before the sale is that the aircraft will be made available for the thorough inspection, analyzing logbooks is typically quick and inexpensive, the on site inspection can run up to $5k including travel, well worth it, typically another 10-30% of purchase price is spent within two years after sale is consumed in order to fix and upgrade the aircraft. I had an aircraft inspected at my hangar once, the deal with the seller was that he gets $1k for showing in case I do not buy the aircraft. I did not buy the aircraft because there was a lien on it that exceeded what I wanted to pay, lesson learnt: before you inspect check for lien on title and if found verify amount with seller before you put to much into the deal. Rule of thumb, Check 10 log book sets, inspect two airplanes, buy one if convenient, a dealer typically adds value to the process because he has done it before and does not want his name associated with an absolute train wreck

Johnny, welcome aboard. I have a Bravo that is based at FCI, some 50 miles from you and had a G-model before, stop by on a nice day, my office is just around the corner from FCI and I will take you up. There are two other Mooneys on the field, an Eagle and a C-model where I am in regular contact with the owners. For a while I was renting a Cherokee and for a while I was in a partnership in a 182RG. Both were good airplanes. Happy New Year! -Fritz

got it, so detonation is most likely not an issue, valve seats in Bravo engine most likely not different than in other Lycomings so shock absorption through lead coating not more an issue than anywhere else, overall things look promising, massive logistical undertaking worldwide